Paint / Acid Rain Water Spots?

I have a 2017 Tacoma....Black. I have had it for just over 2 years. Half of that time it was garage kept. I took it to a paintless dent repair for a small dent on the hood. The shop said that they were surprised with the amount of water spots on the hood and that it appears the paint could be damaged and they can fix it for me. I have washed and done the spray on wax to no avail. Is the shop trying to make an extra dollar on me?

 

Probably. It's not old bird poop?

 

Those can repaired with a clay bar and wax. The shop isn't trying to upsell you on anything since they're not a car wash.

 

Nah, I make sure to wash off the bird poop when I can. Will try to get photos.

 

These droplets over the hood, but not really any other portion of the vehicle. Pardon the overhead reflection.

 

looks like waxed hard water to me

 

some polish and elbow grease should remove that.

 

Claybar and wax easy. You could also use vinegar for something quicker.

 

Those just look like water spots from hard water. I'd tell the shop you're not interested.

 

I air dried my black truck once and had gnarly water spots. Eventually they went away after a few washes.

 

17 was 202 Onyx Black, beautiful when clean and polished. PITA to keep that way.

Wash and dry the truck, steal some vinegar from the kitchen and some gloves (so you don't smell like a pickle when done) and soak a clean microfiber cloth.
(202 black shows everything so own some microfiber cloths )
Wipe down the hood, or even mist the vinegar with a spray bottle. Wipe off with a clean microfiber towel after 5-10 minutes.
Wash the area and dry.
If the mineral stains have been on the hood for a long time and "baked in" then even after soaking in vinegar you may still notice "etching".
Diluted wheel acid solutions will work better than vinegar but once it's etched... it's in there for good.
Clay bar may help a little bit but will not remove them all at this point.

Next step is if you want to remove it by hand look into something like Meguires ScratchX.

OR much much better is to look into getting a cheap harbour freight/porter cable, Random DA polisher and some pads.
You'll spend on a cheap Random DA polisher and pads less than what they were going to charge you to fix your hood.
Spend some time in the detailing section or youtube to see how easy it is to make your whole truck look better than new in a weekend.
Then get into a regimen of waxing with a quality wax,
or better yet a sealer,
or even better a ceramic coating (ceramic coating can be done after you polish and will cost you less than $150.00 for a basic coating).

But don't let hard water (tap) or bird crap sit on your paint.

I did the whole DA compound, then polish, then CQuartz 3.0, then Gliss coating on my truck.
A weekends work on a new truck.
Very easy to keep clean and looks better than new and it's over 2 years old.

Black is a bitch but it's beautiful...

 

Thank you so much for that info. I just didn't expect the level of etching as you have called it. When I get the small hood dent repaired, I will likely have them do the claybar as well.

 

vinegar and water mixed in a spray bottle would get the hard water spots off.

 

Burn it down and buy white or quicksand

 

The water at my house is sucked out of a rock quarry, the KH and PH are off the scale, the chlorine level is so high you can smell it in the air in the summer when people water their lawns. I have fish tanks in the basement, if I use this water, the fish die within a hour or so, even if I treat the water with off the shelf dechlorinators. I have to let it sit in a bucket with a bubbler for 1-2 days before its safe.

I get these spots really really bad when I hand wash. To remove them I either make sure the truck is 100% dry before I wax, or I will buff out the parts that have the spots.

I have found that when I use my pressure washer, I dont get the spots... something about the pressure removes all the minerals.. hoping my washer doesnt start shooting gravel out of the nozzle soon from all the built up minerals.

 

Looks more like calcium from hard water. Acid rain has an etching effect. Ironically what dissolves calcium is acid. as mentioned, vinegar and water should clear it up. You can use Windex, but you need to use the vinegar Windex and not the regular ammonia Windex. Ammonia is a base and will do nothing to calcium.

 

Don't pay someone to claybar.... 10 mins on youtube and $20 for the claybar kit, and you'll be an expert on it in under 15 mins of doing it. .
Washing a truck is more technical than using a clay bar.
Only thing you can do wrong with a claybar is not keep it wet.